Drexel University recently received a new $15 million gift from the Howley Foundation, founded by Drexel alumnus and billionaire Nick Howley, and his wife, Lorie, writes Ryan Mulligan for the Philadelphia Business Journal. 

Nick is a 1975 graduate of Drexel, as well as the founder and chairman of Cleveland-based TransDigm Group, an aerospace manufacturing giant.

Their daughter, Meg, is a 2010 graduate of Drexel, and leads the Howley Foundation’s Philadelphia-area operations as its executive director.

The $15 million gift will support a scholarship program that will fund all attendance costs for 10 students per year coming from seven Philadelphia-area high schools.

The schools are West Catholic Preparatory High School, Roman Catholic High School, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, Merion Mercy Academy, Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School, Cristo Rey Philadelphia High School, and Little Flower High School.

The Drexel gift is an expansion of a program the foundation started last year that previously exclusively funded scholarships for students from West Catholic. The expanded program will cover tuition, room and board at the university, and students are eligible to have the scholarship for all five years of the school’s co-op program. 

Drexel President John Fry said the gift will “benefit Drexel and Philadelphia for years to come.”

Read more about the new gift Drexel received and the philanthropists behind the generous donation at the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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